Embossed absorbent systems and absorbent articles including the same

ABSTRACT

An absorbent system including an absorbent core with at least one material free zone, at least one central longitudinal extending deep embossed channel, and at least two longitudinal extending deep embossed channels positioned between the material free zone and lateral edges of the absorbent system.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 63/284,888, entitled ABSORBENT SYSTEMS AND ABSORBENTARTICLES INCLUDING THE SAME and filed Dec. 1, 2021, the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to embossed absorbent systems,and in particular to embossed absorbent systems useful in hygienicabsorbent articles.

BACKGROUND

Diapers, training pants, briefs, sanitary pads and pantiliners have beenmade and sold for many years. In general, these products preventaccidental contact with body fluids or feces. The products typicallyinclude an absorbent core to retain fluids. The cores may be used withacquisition distribution layers (“ADL”) adjacent to, above or below theabsorbent core. While generally effective in absorbing liquids, thesecores may be thick, stiff, or uncomfortable. There has been a continuinginterest in developing improved absorbent cores. In general, there is adesire to improve absorbency, flexibility and comfort.

Absorbent cores with channels or material free zones are known and mayprovide benefits in terms of fluid handling and product fit. There hasalso been a desire to improve utilization of the absorbent core andintegrity of the absorbent core. Embossed channels have been used toaddress those concerns. There is a continuing need to provide improvedabsorbent systems with better use and integrity of the absorbent core.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An absorbent system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: an absorbent core comprising at least one materialfree zone; an absorbent layer above or beneath the absorbent core; anupper core wrap above the absorbent core or absorbent layer; a lowercore wrap beneath the absorbent core or absorbent layer; and anacquisition distribution layer above the upper core wrap, wherein theupper core wrap or lower core wrap is attached to the absorbent layerthrough at least one material free zone of the absorbent core.

An absorbent system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: an absorbent core comprising at least one materialfree zone; an absorbent layer beneath the absorbent core; an upper corewrap above the absorbent core; a lower core wrap beneath the absorbentlayer; and an acquisition distribution layer above the upper core wrap,wherein the upper core wrap does not attach to the absorbent layerthrough the at least one material free zone of the absorbent core.

An absorbent system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: an absorbent core comprising at least one materialfree zone; an upper core wrap above the absorbent core; a lower corewrap beneath the absorbent core; a first acquisition distribution layerabove the upper core wrap; and a second acquisition distribution layerabove the lower core wrap, wherein the upper core wrap does not attachto the lower core wrap through the at least one material free zone ofthe absorbent core.

An absorbent system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: a first absorbent core comprising at least onematerial free zone; a second absorbent core comprising at least onematerial free zone, wherein a size of the at least one material freezone of the second absorbent core is different from a size of the atleast one material free zone of the first absorbent core; an acquisitiondistribution layer between the first and second absorbent cores; and acore wrap surrounding the first absorbent core.

In exemplary embodiments, the absorbent systems of the present inventionare embossed with at least one embossed channel extending longitudinally(along the length of the absorbent system) in a middle portion (in someembodiments, centrally between material free zones) of the absorbentsystem and at least one embossed channel extending longitudinally onouter portions (between material free zones and lateral edges of theabsorbent system). In an embodiment, the absorbent system includes twoembossed channels extending longitudinally between two material freezones and embossed channels on either side of the material free zones.

An absorbent system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: an absorbent core comprising at least one materialfree zone; at least one central longitudinal extending embossed channel;and at least two longitudinal extending embossed channels positionedbetween the at least one material free zone and lateral edges of theabsorbent system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent core comprises two materialfree zones and two central longitudinal extending embossed channels.

In an exemplary embodiment, the central embossed channels are sinusoidalin shape.

In an exemplary embodiment, the lateral embossed channels are made froma repeating pattern of triangle shaped embossments.

In an exemplary embodiment, the embossed channels are coextensive with alength of the absorbent system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the material free zones comprise an openarea of from 5% to 15% of a total area of the absorbent core.

In an exemplary embodiment, the material free zones have a length thatis 20% to 80% of a total length of the absorbent core.

In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent system further comprises aliquid management system below the absorbent core.

In an exemplary embodiment, a length of the liquid management system isgreater than a length of the at least one material free zone.

An absorbent product according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: a backsheet; a coversheet; and an absorbent systemdisposed between an upper surface of the backsheet and a lower surfaceof the coversheet, the absorbent system comprising: an absorbent corecomprising at least one material free zone; at least one centrallongitudinal extending embossed channel; and at least two longitudinalextending embossed channels positioned between the at least one materialfree zone and lateral edges of the absorbent system, wherein a bodyfacing surface of the backsheet includes elastic strands aligned to passlongitudinally in a central portion of the at least one material freezone.

In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent product further comprise aliquid management system disposed between an upper surface of theabsorbent system and the lower surface of the coversheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-section view of an absorbent system according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of an absorbent system according toanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a top view of an absorbent system according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view of an absorbent system according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Absorbent systems according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention include at least one absorbent core or insert having at leastone material free zone, and upper and lower core wraps. For the purposesof the present disclosure, the term “material free zone” may be definedas a zone that is intentionally devoid of any material so as to form avoid in the absorbent core or insert.

Absorbent cores or inserts may be formed or cut out from rolls ofabsorbent materials. As used herein, the term “absorbent core or insert”refers to a material or combination of materials suitable for absorbing,distributing, and storing aqueous fluids such as urine, blood, menses,and water found in body exudates. The size and shape of the absorbentcore can be altered to meet absorbent capacity requirements, and toprovide comfort to the wearer/user. The length of the absorbent core mayrange from about 20 cm to about 60 cm. The width of the absorbent coremay range from about 4 cm to about 20 cm. When a second absorbent coreis utilized, the second absorbent core may be the same size as the firstcore, smaller than the first core, or larger than the first core. Theabsorbent core suitable for use in the present invention can be anyliquid absorbent material known in the art for use in absorbentarticles, provided that the liquid absorbent material can be configuredor constructed to meet absorbent capacity requirements. Nonlimitingexamples of liquid absorbent materials suitable for use as the absorbentcore include comminuted wood pulp, which is generally referred to asairfelt; creped cellulose wadding; absorbent gelling materials includingsuperabsorbent polymers, such as hydrogel-forming polymeric gellingagents; chemically stiffened, modified, or cross-linked cellulosefibers; synthetic fibers including crimped polyester fibers; tissueincluding tissue wraps and tissue laminates; capillary channel fibers;absorbent foams; absorbent sponges; synthetic staple fibers; peat moss;or any equivalent material; or combinations thereof, as is well known inthe art of making absorbent products such as sanitary napkins,pantiliners, incontinence pads, and the like. The amount ofsuperabsorbent polymer in the absorbent core may range from about 20 toabout 85 or about 40 to about 80 or about 50 to about 75 or about 60 toabout 70 percent by weight, based on the total weight of absorbentmaterial in the core.

In exemplary embodiments, the absorbent core may also be a coformmaterial. The term “coform material” generally refers to compositematerials comprising a mixture or stabilized matrix of thermoplasticfibers and a second non-thermoplastic material. As an example, coformmaterials may be made by a process in which at least one meltblown diehead is arranged near a chute through which other materials are added tothe web while it is forming. Such other materials may include, but arenot limited to, fibrous organic materials such as woody or non-woodypulp such as cotton, rayon, recycled paper, pulp fluff and alsosuperabsorbent particles or fibers, inorganic absorbent materials,treated polymeric staple fibers and the like. Any of a variety ofsynthetic polymers may be utilized as the melt-spun component of thecoform material. For instance, in some embodiments, thermoplasticpolymers can be utilized. Some examples of suitable thermoplastics thatcan be utilized include polyolefins, such as polyethylene,polypropylene, polybutylene and the like; polyamides; and polyesters. Insome embodiments, the absorbent system includes more than one absorbentcore, for example two or three absorbent cores.

At least one absorbent core or insert includes at least one materialfree zone. As used herein, the term “material free zone” means that anarea within the absorbent core is essentially free of absorbent material(and has limited or no absorption capacity). In exemplary embodiments,the at least one material free zone does not contain absorbent material.In an exemplary embodiment, the at least one material free zone isdevoid of material of any kind, or is devoid of absorbent material inparticular, or is devoid of absorbent material and other types ofmaterials but contains certain other types of materials. The materialfree zone may be any shape including, but not limited to, round, oval,elliptical, square or rectangular and typically covers an area of fromabout 5 cm² to about 20 cm², and/or from about 5 cm to about 20 cm inlength. The width of the material free zone may range from about 0.4 cmto about 2 cm, or from about 0.25 cm to about 1 cm. The material freezone may extend from about 20% to about 80% of the length of theabsorbent core. The material free zone typically extends through thethickness of the absorbent core. In some embodiments, the absorbent corehas two material free zones. The space between directly adjacentmaterial free zones may range from about 20 mm to about 80 mm or fromabout 30 mm to about 70 mm or 40 mm, 50 mm or 60 mm. The space betweenthe side edge of the absorbent core and material free zones directlyadjacent to the side edge may range from about 10 mm to about 50 mm orfrom about 20 mm to about 40 mm or about 30 mm. The material free zonescreate an open area. The open area may range from about 5% to about 15%of the area of the absorbent core. The absorbent core may include three,four, five, six or more material free zones. In embodiments where thereis more than one absorbent core, the second and third absorbent coresmay or may not include material free zones. When a second or thirdabsorbent core includes at least one material free zone, the size andshape of the material free zone(s) may be the same as the material freezone(s) in the first absorbent core or may be different.

In exemplary embodiments, the absorbent system may include anacquisition distribution layer (ADL) for distributing liquids to thefluid-absorbent core. The ADL may be made entirely of conventionalfibrous materials with little absorbency, but in some embodimentsincludes water-absorbent polymer particles or other absorbent materials.The fibrous material may be hydrophilic, hydrophobic or can be acombination of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers. The fibrousmaterial may be derived from natural fibers, synthetic fibers or acombination of both. Suitable ADLs are formed from cellulosic fibersand/or modified cellulosic fibers and/or synthetics or combinationsthereof. Thus, suitable ADLs may contain cellulosic fibers, inparticular wood pulp fluff. Modified cellulosic fibers may be utilizedfor fluid acquisition and distribution. Examples of modified cellulosicfibers are chemically treated cellulosic fibers, especially chemicallystiffened cellulosic fibers. The basis weight of cellulosic fibers andmodified cellulosic fibers may range from about 50 to about 200 gsm.

Suitable acquisition-distribution layers may further include syntheticfibers. Hydrophilic synthetic fibers may be obtained by chemicalmodification of hydrophobic fibers, such as by surfactant treatment ofhydrophobic fibers. The surface of the hydrophobic fiber can be renderedhydrophilic by treatment with a nonionic or ionic surfactant, e.g., byspraying the fiber with a surfactant or by dipping the fiber into asurfactant.

In an embodiment, two separate ADLs, each including an absorbent layerand a synthetic fiber layer, may together form a liquid managementsystem (“LMS”). The ADLs may be longer than the material free zones ofthe absorbent core. For example, the ADLs may be the length of thematerial free zone plus 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%,100% or more of the length of the material free zones. The absorbency ofa lower layer of each ADL may be 50% to 100% greater than the absorbencyof an upper layer of the ADL. The upper layer may provide verticalwicking (moving fluid down to the absorbent layer). Both ADLs may havebasis weights less than 100 gsm, for example 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30or 20 gsm.

In some embodiments, acquisition-distribution layers comprise fibrousmaterial and water-absorbent polymer particles distributed within tofunction as an absorbent layer. ADLs may include from about 80% to about100% by weight fibrous material and from 0% to about 20% or about 5% toabout 15% or about 10% by weight water-absorbent polymer particles,based on the total weight of the ADL. An ADL functioning as an absorbentlayer may be placed above or below the absorbent core. When above theabsorbent core, the absorbent ADL may be attached through the materialfree zone to the lower core wrap. When below the absorbent core, theabsorbent ADL may be attached through the material free zone to theupper core wrap. The absorbent ADL may not be attached to the core wrap.The non-absorbent ADL may also be placed above the absorbent core orbelow the absorbent core and either attached or not attached to the corewrap.

Alternatively, a bundle of synthetic fibers acting as an ADL looselydistributed on top of or below the fluid-absorbent core may be used.Suitable synthetic fibers include, for example, copolyester, polyamide,copolyamide, polylactic acid, polypropylene or polyethylene, viscose orblends thereof. Bicomponent fibers may also be used. In exemplaryembodiments, the synthetic fiber component may be composed of either asingle fiber type with a circular cross-section or a blend of two fibertypes with different cross-sectional shapes.

The ADL basis weight may range from about 20 gsm to about 200 gsm,depending on the concentration of water-absorbent polymer particles. Thelength of upper ADLs may range from about 6 cm to about 25 cm. The widthof upper ADLs may range from 4 cm to 10 cm. The length of lower ADLs mayrange from about 6 cm to about 60 cm. The width of lower ADLs may rangefrom 6 cm to 15 cm.

In exemplary embodiments, a core wrap may assist with containment andintegrity of the absorbent core components. The core wrap may be bondedto the absorbent core. Bonding of the core wrap to the absorbent coremay occur via any means known to one of ordinary skill, such as, but notlimited to, adhesives. The core wrap may be composed of separate sheetsof material (such as an upper core wrap and a lower core wrap) which canbe utilized to partially or fully encompass the absorbent core and whichcan be sealed together using a sealing means such as an ultrasonicbonder or other thermochemical bonding means, or the use of an adhesive.The core wrap may include, but is not limited to, natural and syntheticfibers such as polyester, polypropylene, acetate, nylon, polymericmaterials, cellulosic materials such as wood pulp, cotton, rayon,viscose, LYOCELL® such as from Lenzing Company of Austria, or mixturesof these or other cellulosic fibers, and combinations thereof. Naturalfibers may include wool, cotton, flax, hemp, and wood pulp. The materialforming the core wrap may be selected from meltblown-spunbond-meltblownfabric, spunbond fabric, meltblown fabric, coform fabric, carded web,bonded-carded web, bicomponent spunbond fabric, spunlace, tissue, andcombinations thereof. Further, the core wrap may be made of aspunbond-meltblown-spunbond (“SMS”) material, such as a 9 gsmspunbond-meltblown-spunbond material.

The core wrap may be less hydrophilic than the absorbent core, butsufficiently porous to permit body fluids to penetrate through the corewrap to reach the absorbent core. The core wrap may have sufficientstructural integrity to withstand its own wetting and the wetting of theabsorbent core. In order to support this functional property of the corewrap, a wet strength agent may be applied to the core wrap. Anon-limiting example of a wet strength agent may be Kymene 6500 (557LK)or equivalent available from Ashland Inc. of Ashland, Ky., U.S.A.Similarly, a surfactant may be included in the core wrap to promotehydrophilicity.

The upper and lower core wraps may be attached at the sides adjacent tothe core (sandwich attachment) or in a C wrap configuration. With the Cwrap configuration, the upper core wrap may fold around and under thebottom of the core, where it is attached to the lower core wrap.Alternatively, the lower core wrap may fold around and over the upper ofthe core, where it is attached to the upper core wrap. In someembodiments, the absorbent system does not include a core wrap.

In exemplary embodiments, the absorbent system is embossed sufficientlyby a process referred to herein as “deep embossing” to provide enhancedutilization of absorbent material and structural integrity to the core.In exemplary embodiments, at least one deep embossed channel ispositioned centrally extending longitudinally. Embossing is typicallyperformed with the product passed between two rolls. One roll may besmooth while the other roll has emboss or deboss patterns extending outfrom (deboss) or into (emboss) the surface. Pressure on the surface ofthe product and heat results in the emboss or deboss pattern transferredto the product. In exemplary embodiments, at least one deep embossedchannel is positioned laterally extending longitudinally. The deepembossed channels may be any shape including, but not limited tostraight lines, circles, crosshatches, sinusoidal lines, triangles,hearts or combinations thereof. The length of each deep embossed channelmay be co-extensive with the length of the absorbent system or shorter.For example, the length of the deep embossed channel may be 40%, 50%,60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or 100% of the length of the absorbent system. Eachdeep embossed channel may be the same length as the other, or the lengthof the deep embossed channels may vary. The deep embossed channel mayhave a width of from about 1 mm to about 10 mm or from about 2 mm toabout 8 mm or from about 3 mm to about 6 mm or 5 mm. The depth of thedeep embossed channel is sufficient to provide improved liquid movementlaterally and/or longitudinally and to improve core integrity. The depthof the embossed channel may range from about 20% to about 30%, 40%, 50%,60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or 100% of the thickness of the absorbent system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the absorbent system has two material freezones. One or two deep-embossed channels are created equidistant andcentrally between the material free zones. A deep embossed channel isalso created between each side edge of the material free zone andlateral edge of the absorbent system.

The absorbent systems may be useful for, for example, diapers, trainingpants, youth pants, briefs, sanitary pads, bladder control pads and thelike. In use, the absorbent systems of exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention are placed on a top surface of a backsheet. Backsheetsare materials that generally are liquid impermeable but may be moisturevapor permeable (breathable). Backsheets are used in absorbent productson a surface of the product that is distal to the user's body. Thebacksheet can be made of any known or otherwise effective backsheetmaterial, provided that the backsheet prevents external leakage ofexudates absorbed and contained in the protective underwear. Flexiblematerials suitable for use as the backsheet include, but are not limitedto, woven and nonwoven materials, laminated tissue, polymeric films suchas thermoplastic films of polyethylene and/or polypropylene, microporousfilms, composite materials such as a film-coated nonwoven material, orcombinations thereof, as is well known in the art of making absorbentproducts, such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, incontinence pads, andthe like.

Backsheets may include a single layer or multiple layers. An outer layermay be soft nonwoven materials while an inner body facing layer may bepolymer film. The backsheet may be breathable. The backsheet may includeelastic strands in the longitudinal direction (along the length of theproduct) to provide improved convex or outward curvature of the product,which provides increased spatial separation of the topsheet or body sideliner of the article from the genital area. The elastic strands may haveelongation of from 50% to 200% of the relaxed length of the strands.Elastic strands, such as LYCRA brand and the like may be attached to abody facing surface of the backsheet with adhesive, thermal bonding,ultrasonic bonding and the like. Alternatively, the elastic strands maybe attached to the polymer film facing surface of the nonwoven or thenonwoven facing surface of the polymer film. Spacing between elasticstrands may range from 5 mm to 30 mm or more, for example 10, 15, 20, 25or 35 mm. The elastic strands are typically applied under tension tohelp the product fit better and reduce sagging. In an embodiment,elastic strands are aligned such that strands overlap open areas of thematerial free zones of the absorbent core (preferably in the centralportion of the material free zones).

The absorbent system is typically attached to the backsheet with anadhesive. Suitable adhesives are known in the art and include hot meltadhesives, emulsion polymer adhesives and the like.

A topsheet or cover is placed on top of the absorbent system andattached to the core or insert and backsheet with adhesive, ultrasonicbonding or combinations thereof, forming a chassis. Suitable topsheetsare compliant, soft feeling, and non-irritating to the body of thewearer. Suitable topsheet materials include a liquid pervious materialthat is oriented towards and contacts the body of the wearer, therebypermitting body discharges to rapidly penetrate through the topsheetwithout allowing fluid to flow back through the topsheet to the skin ofthe wearer. A suitable topsheet can be made of various materials, suchas woven and nonwoven materials; apertured film materials includingapertured formed thermoplastic films, apertured plastic films, andfiber-entangled apertured films; hydro-formed thermoplastic films;porous foams; reticulated foams; reticulated thermoplastic films;thermoplastic scrims; or combinations thereof, as is well known in theart of making absorbent products such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners,incontinence pads, protective underwear and the like.

Elastic side panels may be attached to the chassis to form diapers oradult protective underwear. Any elastic side panel known in the art ofabsorbent articles may be useful. Suitable elastic side panels includelaminates of elastic films with nonwovens, laminates of elastic strandswith nonwovens and the like. The elastic panels may be attached to thechassis by adhesive, ultrasonic bonding or a combination thereof. Thelength, width and shape of the side panels may be designed to makeproducts of different sizes. Products with side panels may have a moreunderwear like appearance.

The side panels are then attached to the insert/core. A portion of eachside panel is left unattached to form leg openings. The side panels maybe attached to the insert/core with glue, adhesive, ultrasonic bondingor combinations thereof. The side panels may be attached to theinsert/core at various angles to create a more garment like fit.

As is known in the art, hooks and loops may be used on articles inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Nonwovenmaterials may function as the loops.

In exemplary embodiments, the hook fasteners may be made up of separatehook elements or may be integral with the side panels. In this regard,the hook elements may be bonded to the side panels by adhesive,ultrasonic, thermal bonding or the like. Alternatively, the hookelements may be intimately joined with the material that forms the sidepanels. Such intimate bonding of hook elements with a layer of materialmay be accomplished by feeding extruded plastic and a sheet of materialthrough a nip formed by a first roller having pins and a second rollerhaving corresponding cavities. As the molten plastic is forced throughthe nip, it flows into the cavities of the second roller and also intopores in the sheet of material. The plastic in the cavities cools andhardens so as to form a hook sheet. At the same time, the sheet ofmaterial is intimately joined to and becomes an integral part of thehook sheet so as to form a laminated structure. This process isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,795, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The hook elementsmay be arranged on the side panels in longitudinally extending stripsthat are laterally spaced from one another. Alternatively, the hookelements may be arranged in a pattern of geometric shapes or lines.Desirably, the hook elements are arranged on an inelastic material inorder to improve ease of processing and the shear strength of the seam.

FIG. 1 shows an absorbent system, generally designated by referencenumber 1, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.As shown in FIG. 1 , the absorbent system 1 includes an absorbent core11. The absorbent core 11 includes two rectangular material free zones32 as shown in FIG. 3 . The length of each material free zone 32 is 120mm and the width of each material free zone is 10 mm. An upper ADL 12,which in this embodiment is not absorbent and a lower ADL 13, which inthis embodiment is absorbent are positioned above an upper core wrap 14and a lower core wrap 15, respectively. A backsheet 16 is provided belowthe absorbent core 11, the upper and lower ADLs 12, 13, and the upperand lower core wraps 14, 15. The backsheet 16 may be printed with acolor change wetness indicator 18. The lower core wrap 15, lower ADL 13,absorbent core 11, upper core wrap 14 and upper ADL 12 are placed on thebacksheet. The upper core wrap 14 is attached to the lower core wrap 15on sides adjacent to the core (sandwich wrap) by adhesives, thermalbonding, ultrasonic bonding or combinations thereof. The upper core wrap14 may be attached to the lower absorbent ADL 13 by adhesive, thermalbonding, ultrasonic bonding or combinations thereof. A cover or topsheet17 is disposed over the other components of the absorbent system 1 andsealed to the backsheet 16.

FIG. 2 shows an absorbent system, generally designated by referencenumber 20, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 2 , the absorbent system 20 includes anabsorbent core 21. The absorbent core 21 includes two rectangularmaterial free zones as shown in FIG. 3 . The length of each materialfree zone is 120 mm and the width of each material free zone is 10 mm.An upper ADL 22, which in this embodiment is not absorbent and a lowerADL 23, which in this embodiment is not absorbent are positioned abovean upper core wrap 24 and a lower core wrap 25, respectively. Abacksheet 26 is provided below the absorbent core 21, the upper andlower ADLs 22, 23, and the upper and lower core wraps 24, 25. Thebacksheet 26 may be printed with a color change wetness indicator 28.The lower core wrap 25, lower ADL 23, absorbent core 21, upper core wrap24 and upper ADL 22 are placed on the backsheet 26. The upper core wrap24 is not directly attached to and does not directly contact the lowerADL 23. The upper core wrap 24 is attached to the lower core wrap 25underneath the core (C wrap) with adhesive, thermal bonding, ultrasonicbonding or combinations thereof. A cover or topsheet 27 is disposed overthe other components of the absorbent system 20 and sealed to thebacksheet 26.

FIG. 3 shows absorbent core 11, 21 having absorbent material 31 andmaterial free zones 32, which in this case are rectangular shaped with alength of 11.5 cm and a width of 0.4 cm.

FIG. 4 shows an absorbent system 41 with material free zones 42 a and 42b. The absorbent system 41 may have a structure that is the same as thatdescribed previously in regards to FIGS. 1 and 2 , with the exception ofaddition of embossed channels, Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 ,central longitudinally extending embossed channels 43 a and 43 b aredisposed between the material free zones 42 a, 42 b and extend thelength of the absorbent system 41. Lateral longitudinally extendingembossed channels 44 a and 44 b are disposed between the outside edges45 a, 45 b of the embossed channels 43 a, 43 b and the lateral edges 46a, 46 b of the absorbent core. The embossed channels 44 a, 44 b extendthe length of the absorbent system. The central embossed channels 43 a,43 b are sinusoidal in shape and the lateral embossed channels 44 a, 44b are made from a repeating pattern of triangle shapes. The width of theembossed channels 43 a, 43 b, 44 a, 44 b is 2 mm. The lower ADL isabsorbent. The upper core wrap contacts and is attached to the lowerADL. When challenged with liquid, the fluid rapidly passes through thematerial free zones and is wicked transversely and longitudinally to thecentral embossed channels 43 a, 43 b and the lateral embossed 44 a, 44 bchannels. The embossed channels 43 a, 43 b, 44 a, 44 b wick the fluidfurther longitudinally, resulting in more of the absorbent coreabsorbing fluid.

In exemplary embodiments, absorbent systems of the present inventionprovide absorbent products with absorbency, fit, core integrity,improved utilization of absorbent material and comfort.

Conventional absorbent core machines for making diapers and protectiveunderwear may be modified with a kit to make products according toexemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Now that embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon canbecome readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, theexemplary embodiments of the present invention, as set forth above, areintended to be illustrative, not limiting. The spirit and scope of thepresent invention is to be construed broadly.

We claim:
 1. An absorbent system comprising: an absorbent corecomprising at least one material free zone; at least one centrallongitudinal extending embossed channel; and at least two longitudinalextending embossed channels positioned between the at least one materialfree zone and lateral edges of the absorbent system.
 2. The absorbentsystem of claim 1, wherein: the absorbent core comprises two materialfree zones and two central longitudinal extending embossed channels. 3.The absorbent system according to claim 2, wherein the central embossedchannels are sinusoidal in shape.
 4. The absorbent system according toclaim 3, wherein the lateral embossed channels are made from a repeatingpattern of triangle shaped embossments.
 5. The absorbent systemaccording to claim 4, wherein the embossed channels are coextensive witha length of the absorbent system.
 6. The absorbent system according toclaim 2, wherein the material free zones comprise an open area of from5% to 15% of a total area of the absorbent core.
 7. The absorbent systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the material free zones have a length thatis 20% to 80% of a total length of the absorbent core.
 8. The absorbentsystem according to claim 1, further comprising a liquid managementsystem below the absorbent core.
 9. The absorbent system according toclaim 8, wherein a length of the liquid management system is greaterthan a length of the at least one material free zone.
 10. An absorbentproduct comprising: a backsheet; a coversheet; and an absorbent systemdisposed between an upper surface of the backsheet and a lower surfaceof the coversheet, the absorbent system comprising: an absorbent corecomprising at least one material free zone; at least one centrallongitudinal extending embossed channel; and at least two longitudinalextending embossed channels positioned between the at least one materialfree zone and lateral edges of the absorbent system, wherein a bodyfacing surface of the backsheet includes elastic strands aligned to passlongitudinally in a central portion of the at least one material freezone.
 11. The absorbent product according to claim 10, furthercomprising a liquid management system disposed between an upper surfaceof the absorbent system and the lower surface of the coversheet.